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Mike Braun: Why Indiana residents should vote for me

Mike Braun
Published 6:00 a.m. ET Nov. 5, 2018

I’m running because Hoosiers deserve a senator who makes promises here in Indiana and then keeps them in Washington.

Republican former state Rep. Mike Braun speaks during a U.S. Senate Debate against Republican former state Rep. Mike Braun and Libertarian Lucy Brenton, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, in Indianapolis.(Photo: Darron Cummings/AP)

I’m running for the U.S. Senate because I truly believe we don’t send the cream of the crop to represent us in Washington.

Career politicians in D.C. have shirked their responsibility to us for decades. At every turn, they’ve kicked the can down the road, pushing the burdens of our problems and our debts onto our children and grandchildren.

That lack of leadership doesn’t work in the real world, and it’s not working in Washington either. When I decided to move back to my hometown of Jasper after graduation — then a town of fewer than 10,000 people — the question I was asked most was “What’s wrong?”

To me, knowing I wanted to raise a family and build a business, there was nothing out of the ordinary about coming back to a close-knit community where people work hard, live within their means, and put family first.

I’m proud of that decision, and today I’m proud to say that my company, Meyer Distributing, has grown from just myself, a salesman, a truck driver, and an office in a mobile home on a rock lot into a national industry leader.

I’m proud that I’ve been able to give back to the community that’s given me everything, create great-paying jobs for my friends and neighbors, and treat my employees like family for 37 years.

I’m proud to say that our headquarters is still right here in my hometown of Jasper, where my wife Maureen and I celebrated 42 years of marriage this year. I’m proud that three of my four children work with me at Meyer, which gives me the peace of mind to give back again to the state that has given me so much.

I’m running because I believe if we had more people in Washington who have built their lives in the real world — creating jobs, balancing budgets, making hard decisions and getting things done — we’d get a better product out of Washington and better lives for Hoosiers.

Under an outsider like President Trump, our economy is on fire like it hasn’t been in decades. Today, there are more American job openings than there are people in Indiana, and the last time American unemployment was this low the Beatles were at the top of the charts.

We mean business again, not just business as usual. We’re making things again, not just making excuses. I’m running to make this incredible economy work for every Hoosier.

Building my family and my business in Jasper has taught me so much in my life, and one of those lessons is to always put people first. When I read the incredible records our country is breaking nearly every day, it’s not just numbers to me: it’s good-paying jobs for folks in Petersburg, it’s families starting new small businesses in Lafayette, it’s a family that can start saving for their kids’ college fund up in Angola, it’s hope for hard-working Hoosiers who not too long along weren’t sure if hope would come.

But when it came time to cut taxes, to create this incredible economic opportunity, my opponent said no.

Jasper taught me when you make a promise, you better keep it, and when it came decision time on tax cuts, on Planned Parenthood, on the Iran nuclear deal, on profiting from outsourcing Hoosier jobs, and most recently on joining the cacophony attempting to destroy Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, I believe my opponent broke his promise to Hoosiers.

I’m running because Hoosiers deserve a senator who makes promises here in Indiana and then keeps them in Washington.

I’m running because Hoosiers deserve a senator who sounds the same on the factory floor as he does on the Senate floor.